Effects of Systematic Oral Care in Critically Ill Patients: a Multicenter Study NANCY J. AMES, RN, PhD, CCRN with Pawel Sulima, Jan M. Yates, Linda McCullagh, Sherri L. Gollins, Karen Soeken, and Gwenyth R. Wallen
Article published in AJCC in September 2011 Ames, N., Sulima, P., Yates, J., McCullagh, L., Gollins, S., Soeken, K., Wallen, G.R. (2011). The Effects of Systematic Oral Care in Critically Ill Patients: A Multicenter Study. American Journal of Critical Care DOI 10.4037
VAP Pathogenesis Dental plaque biofilm Endotracheal tube biofilms Aspirated sputum Exogenous factors Impairment of host defenses Gastric Flora Inhalation of contaminated aerosols Crnich, Safdar & Maki, Resp Care 2005 Craven, D. Chroneou, A. in Mandell, Douglas, and Bennett's Principles and Practice of Infectious Diseases, 7th Edition.
Purpose To examine the effects of a systematic program of oral care on oral assessment scores in critically ill patients.
Background No standard oral assessment tools exist to determine oral care frequency and procedure Treloar and Stechmiller (1995) Oral assessment tool; n=16 intubated patients; no information on psychometric testing and oral assessment lacked quantitative metrics and scales Fitch, et al.(1999) Visual analogue scale as assessment of oral cavity structures; n=30 patients; 3-phase longitudinal study with standardized oral care protocol that included toothbrushing; no information on time need to perform oral assessment Fourrier, et al. (2005) Plaque index score and dental assessment; n=228 intubated patients; placebo-controlled trial of chlorhexidine gel; decreased plaque cultures in chlorhexidine gel group but no difference in rate of VAP or days of mechanical ventilation
Background Munro et al. 2009 Decayed, missing, and filled teeth index (DMFT); single-center study; studied effects of toothbrushing alone, chlorhexidine alone, and chlorhexidine plus tooth brushing; patients who did not have elevated pneumonia scores at baseline and who received chlorhexidine had reduced pneumonia rates on day 3 Many performance improvement studies of VAP and oral care have been published In these studies oral care frequency and type were not clearly defined OR they consisted solely of chlorhexidine rinses
Methods Oral Cavity assessed using Modified Beck Oral Assessment Scale (BOAS) and Mucosal-Plaque Score (MPS) Beck Oral Assessment Scale, modified Ames, et al., 2011
Methods Mucosal Plaque Score Ames, et al., 2011
Methods Multicenter study between November 2004 and January 2007 Pre-post evaluation of oral care practices Standard unit-based oral care before the educational intervention and the subsequent implementation of systematic oral care All patients were assessed and plaque and saliva specimens were collected Data were collected at day 1, day 3, and day 5
Methods Exclusion criteria: ICU LOS < 48 hours Age < 18 yrs of age Significant oral or facial trauma Edentulous Could provide own oral care Diagnosis of pneumonia at admission Clinical Pulmonary Infection Score (CPIS) of 6 Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE) II was used to compare severity of illness between hospitals and patients Frequency of oral care determined by BOAS score but was at least every 12 hours No restrictions were placed on the use of tap water
Limitations Pre-post test design and differences between the treatment and control groups Length of time between the two parts of the study Smaller than anticipated sample size Measurement fidelity of treatment
Clinical Implications Patients who received systematic oral care had significantly lower BOAS scores overall The modified BOAS provides a realistic and clinically useful assessment of oral integrity in critically ill patients As the MPS and BOAS correlated positively across all times, both assessment scores can help standardize oral care by providing a mechanism to measure the effects of this important nursing intervention
Thank you! names@nih.gov